Heroes for Hire (1984) User Reviews

Filipino action thriller trash

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 7 May 2017]

HELL RAIDERS is a hilarious little action movie made in the Philippines and starring such familiar (and wooden) faces as Bruce Baron and Mike Monty. The plot is about a sinister criminal organisation that goes around kidnapping prominent scientists and doctors and our vengeful hero who goes gunning for them throughout.

The title makes this sound like a typical low rent Filipino war flick so it's a surprise to discover that it's a street-bound thriller instead. It has boring dialogue and a dumb storyline, but it's also absolutely packed with action with shoot-outs and chases occurring every five minutes or so. The amount of times our hero gets ambushed in his hotel room and nearly killed, you think he'd hire security or go incognito.

The action really picks up in the second half with the emphasis on a random ninja gang who go around murdering foes and using cool weapons and the like. It's just a long string of wooden actors running about, beating folk up and getting beaten in turn. There are bloody squib hits throughout and cheesy death scenes like the guy falling/flying off the roof of the tower block. Sure, HELL RAIDERS is cheap, trashy, and cheesy, but these are not necessarily bad things...

Heroes for Hire Recieves The Rare And Highly Coveted "Z+" Rating.

[mikecanmaybee · 5/10 · 10 February 2022]

Typically I like to start by acknowledging the Director , but in the case of Heroes for Hire it's only fair to give credit to the writer Timothy Jorge for an excellent screenplay with as many twist and turns one might expect to see in a good Al Adamson flick. McPearson played by the handsome (Bruce Baron) is out to rescue Professor Arlington (Mike Monty) and his lovely assistant Liza (Liza Hutton) who were kidnapped at a swanky pool party while our hero McPearson was merely knocked out. Suffice it to say the other guests were not so lucky.

The film really takes off from there with McPearson battling four levels of bad guy hierarchy with a cool and smug demeanor that just worked. Excellent performances by Z movie stalwarts (Robert Marius ) Barner, (Eric Hahn) Escalar and the great (Nick Nicholson ) as the less then pleasant Barankov. The final assault onto bad guy Island is a real treat with (Tony Chang) as the acrobat Ninja being the highlight.

The film does have some short comings with a couple of scenes needing a second take, and Baron's bad habit of slouching especially when he sits. This should have been rectified with Director Teddy Page telling him to sit up strait. These are trivial problems overcome by a high body count and the great action put on screen. A couple of actors in their one and only roles deserve a shout out with the debonair (Jack Steward ) Manager of the rescue team and the for- mentioned Liza Hutton who were both naturals in front of the camera. Liza even took on the duties of leading lady and provided a lovely polite much enjoyed shower scene. When you add it all up if you do not like Heroes For Hire you probably are not going to like Z movies in general because this one is a "Z+" to be sure.

"Nobody said it was going to be easy"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 4/10 · 22 July 2023]

Well there is action in abundance and a plot with more twists than a corkscrew in this movie overall it is not that thrilling. Even the introduction of a biker called Magnum, a cowboy called Cactus and a ninja called Ninja near the end, the titular 'Heroes For Hire' doesn't make much of an impact. They just routinely mow down most of the guards on the villains' island somewhere in...well am not sure. Top-billed Bruce Baron as McPearson shows off his manly chest while dodging assassins who pop up from nowhere. The rest of the cast are ho-hum but Liza Hutton in an obligatory shower scene perks one's interest a little. I suppose there is a kind of daft charm about the film but not one that repays viewing more than once.

Nothing special.

[thrashpit666 · 3/10 · 5 June 2015]

Nothing special. There are a lot of way more interesting action b-movies out there.

This is one of those forgettable direct-to-VHS action movies. Out of all the action movies I've seen this is one of them. There is not a lot of votes for this and even less reviews and there's a reason for that. The reason is that this movie doesn't have a lot to talk about. It's cheap-looking, badly acted, but mostly boring and not all that entertaining. I mean there's worse movies out there but that doesn't make this movie good.

I wouldn't recommend this movie. I just don't see the reason to. There are so many great 80s action movies watch one of those movies instead. Try watching Predator, Terminator, Die Hard, Road Warrior, etc. first. If you want action movies this is just not that special.

TLDR; this movie's not that great.

A fun and absurd romp!

[tarbosh22000 · 7/10 · 1 January 2019]

There's some microfilm that everyone is after. Professor Arlington (Monty) has it, and to keep it extra safe and secure, he gets surgery so that it is implanted deep in his arm. We're told via an on-screen title card that this happened in MIAMI, 1980. Shortly thereafter, we see another on-screen title that reads FEW YEARS LATER. Arlington is at a party wearing nothing but a Speedo. Armed terrorists, led by Charles Barner (Marius), crash the party and kidnap Arlington and his wife Liza (Liza Hutton). Of course, yet another evil baddie, Escaler (Hahn), is also after the microfilm. It seems - at least at first - that only one man can stop the chaos: McPearson (Baron), a man who by turns is either sullen and belligerent, or energetic and lively. Evidently McPearson is going to need extra help, so his boss goes to an organization called Heroes For Hire. It's there that more heroes are brought in: Magnum (Beyer), the Clint Eastwood guy, Cactus (Holtz), the Cowboy guy, and Ninja (Chang), the ninja guy. Now an unstoppable fighting force, the HEROES FOR HIRE will use their combined strengths to fight the baddies...but will even that be enough? Find out today...



We've got a winner on our hands with Heroes For Hire (AKA Hell Raiders), a fun and absurd romp that sports some truly outstanding moments. There are five John Lloyd movies, and of the ones we've seen to date, so far this ranks as the best. It has an extremely high kill count mixed with the silly moments we all love and enjoy. It features most of the Philippines-shot action movie mainstays such as Mike Monty (looking especially like Bryan Cranston here), Nick Nicholson (in a tiny part as Berenkov), and Jim Gaines, also in a cameo role, seemingly only placed with Bruce Baron on a boat to further reinforce - as if it were necessary - the Crockett & Tubbs vibe. It truly was the era of Miami Vice - absurdly, the movie even takes place in Miami - and McPearson (or is it Bruce Baron?) truly Crocketts it up with his sports jackets with the rolled-up sleeves worn with a T-shirt, and topped off with Ray-Bans, which he consistently wears indoors just to show how cool he is. Even in the less Crockett-esque moments, Baron more than shows that he's a crafty, resourceful, and capable hero.





The movie really takes off at the midway point, at the introductions of Magnum, Cactus, and Ninja, which in itself is truly a highlight. That being said, we wish more thought had been given to the name of Ninja, but perhaps that's all part of the charm. Once the Heroes For Hire assemble, it's truly a joy to watch what ensues. We don't want to give anything away, but let's just say a lot of people die, McPearson's boss has the prerequisite framed Reagan photo on his desk, we're informed that Barner was formerly in Vietnam, and there's a hilariously truncated chainsaw fight. Also Arlington's wife calls him both Fred and/or Ted at various different points throughout the film.



We noticed that a man named Lincoln Abraham played a helicopter pilot in the movie, and also was the still photographer behind the scenes. He was probably included solely for his name, which looks like a typo. There are also crew members named Larry Byrd and George Will. Are these real people, or Filipino locals using anglicized names? We may never know. The important thing to remember is that you will have a lot of fun watching Hell Raiders.



Final thoughts: Heroes For Hire is one of the better non-Vietnam-based, Philippines-shot low-budget actioners we've seen in some time. As of this writing, it's on Amazon Prime and we say check it out.